Love Eternal?
by facelessman00
Summary: An alternate ending to Ethan Frome. What would happen if Mattie and Ethan didn't both survive the sledding incident?


A/N: The first paragraph is taken from the book… The rest is my own.

****

Ethan Frome

Love Eternal?

__

As they flew toward the tree Mattie pressed her arms tighter, and her blood seemed to be in his veins. Once or twice the sled swerved a little under them. He slanted his body to keep it headed for the elm, repeating to himself again and again: "I know we can fetch it"; and little phrases she had spoken ran through his head and danced before him in the air. The big tree loomed bigger and closer, and as they bore down on it he thought: "It's waiting for us: it seems to know." But suddenly his wife's face, with twisted monstrous lineaments, thrust itself between him and his goal, and he made an instinctive movement to brush it aside.

Ethan shook his head vigorously to clear it. He did not wish to have his last moments on earth tainted by visions of his decrepit wife…he wanted only to remember Mattie, to revel in the embrace that they shared before their imminent death. It was poetic, really; dying in the arms of a loved one. It was something he had always found quite touching in the many novels that he had read in his lifetime. How fitting that it would be how _he _would end his life…

The enormous tree stood still as death before the fast-approaching sled, quickly growing larger and larger in Ethan's eyes—a dark void opening to welcome them home. He held Mattie tightly, closed his eyes, and embraced death's invitation. Oh, to be free of all the worldly cares, all of the trivial day to day affairs! To be free to spend the rest of eternity with Mattie, without Zeena or Denis or _life _to distract him…such was a beautiful concept. 

But just when all seemed ideal…when Ethan had finally fully prepared himself to go into that blissful night…another image of his wife forced itself into his subconscious, causing him to instinctively flinch. He tilted his body to one side and felt the sled rotate on the slick, frozen snow. He heard Mattie's sudden shriek, and then its subsequent ceasing upon impact with the elm. _No_…he screamed mentally. _No!!! _Ethan was thrown from the sled, landing face-first and skidding unforgivably across the snow.

Seconds later, all was still. Silence prevailed. With much effort, Ethan lifted his head from the snow, shook it wearily, and tried to stand. Surprisingly enough, he found he could walk with little effort.

"Mattie!" The sound of her scream before hitting the elm rang through his ears without pause. He scrambled through the snow, scanning desperately for a glimpse of his beloved. She couldn't be far, could she? He poked his head around the tree…and his heart caught in his throat.

Her eyes were open wide, as if staring up at the branches above. Her mouth was open as well, a permanent scream. The lower half of her body was contorted in a position that could not have possibly been natural, and her arms were folded across her chest in an abominable imitation of peace. "Oh my God…" Ethan managed. "No…no…" He began looking around frantically. "Help!" he cried. "Somebody help me! Help _her_! Please!" She wasn't dead, he told himself. She _wasn't_. She wouldn't have left without him…they were going to go into eternity together, weren't they?

He stooped down to pick her body up from the freezing ground, and began trudging as rapidly as possible up the hill. "Somebody! Someone help! She's dying! Help!" She felt so still, so unmoving, so…dead, in his arms. He could feel her shattered bones floating, and discovered with alarm that her chest was not moving! "No…" he repeated again, feeling faint. "No no no no no…"

Ethan set the woman down on the ground slowly, delicately, and he knelt down beside her. His eyes surveyed the broken form extensively. He felt warm tears threatening to spill onto his cheeks as he came to the grim realization: she wasn't breathing. "No," he sobbed. "Dear God, no…how could you take her from me? How? We…we were supposed to die together! _Together_!" Ethan's features softened slightly, and he slowly reached behind to lightly caress the back of her neck. She was so beautiful, so innocent—

Ethan drew back suddenly, his face paling. He looked down at the hand that had just touched her neck, and at the blood which stained it. Her blood, he told himself. The blood which no longer pumped freely through her veins, bringing life and love and happiness…the blood which now lay spilled across the snow, cold and useless…just as Mattie's corpse had just now become.

A sudden high-pitched scream snapped him from his reverie. Ethan glared up at the source of the shriek: a hysterical old woman, pointing wordlessly at the dead woman. She had most likely arrived at the scene after hearing all the commotion. Ethan's stony gaze met hers, which only caused her to scream even more. "M…m…murder!" she cried. "_Murderer_!" As if running for her life, she turned and bolted.

Ethan looked down at himself. Kneeling beside a dead woman, hundreds of yards from the elm, with blood-stained hands did look mighty suspicious to the casual passerby, he had to admit. But it only served to enforce the truth…and that truth was that he _had _killed her. He had agreed to die by her side, and he did everything in his power to facilitate such an action. Besides, it was due to his presence in the world that someone as young and innocent as Mattie had made the decision to take her life…

It was silent there for several minutes. The wind whispering across the snow-covered grounds was the only sound that could be heard. Before Ethan could brood over the situation further, or even begin to grasp the far-reaching consequences of her death, two men appeared over the crest of the hill, their expressions grim. "Come with us, " one said. "We have some questions for you…"

Ethan stood from his position and fixed a cold gaze on each of the two men. They were obviously convinced that he had just murdered the girl, and, he wondered, why convince them otherwise? Especially when he wasn't so sure of his innocence himself. Without Mattie, he'd have to go back to live with his life-sucking wife…he couldn't bear that, not without Mattie around to inspire him, to love him. And how else would he explain the scenario? He would not taint the girl's good name by telling the public at large that it was an act of suicide. No, it was all his fault, all his doing…

"No need, officers," he said evenly. "I killed her."


End file.
